Scrollbars are used in a variety of software applications, particularly those displayed in a so-called window that is shown on a computer display device. A window is typically able to display only a portion of a document or other file at a time. The scrollbar allows a user of the software application displayed in the window to select the portion of the document or other file to be displayed. Thus, the user is able traverse different sections of a document or other file that otherwise cannot be efficiently displayed in the window at the same time. For example, in a word processing application, a user who wishes to edit a seventy-page document would not want all seventy pages to be displayed at the same time. A scrollbar allows that user to effectively choose which portion of the document to look at by providing input to the scrollbar. Similarly, scrollbars may be used within a document as well, to show only a portion of an item in a document, such as a table or a chart, at a time. A user is again able to effectively choose which portion the item is displayed by providing input to the scrollbar. In any situation, the user provides input to the scrollbar through an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball etc.
For example, one way of providing input to a scrollbar is to use an input device such as a mouse or trackpad to click on a movable slider displayed in the scrollbar. The movable slider corresponds to a relative position of the document as currently displayed in the window. By moving the mouse/trackpad, the movable slider correspondingly moves in the scrollbar, and the portion of the document that is displayed in the window also changes accordingly, allowing the user to view a different portion of the document. Similarly, by moving a cursor or other type of input indicator using, for example, a keyboard, to scroll through the content of a document, the movable slider in the scrollbar will correspondingly move and indicate a relative position on the document.
Scrollbars may be placed in a variety of locations in a window. For example, word processing applications and web browsers typically include two scrollbars, one placed on the right edge of the window, for scrolling up and down, and one near the bottom edge of the window, for scrolling right and left. Other applications, such as image editing applications, may place the left-right scrollbar near the top edge of the window, and still other applications, such as graphics applications, typically include two left-right scrollbars, one near the top edge of the window and one near the bottom edge, and two up-down scrollbars, one on the right edge of the window and one on the left edge of the window.